


We Are Your Flesh

by MalthusIndex



Category: Warframe
Genre: Conversion, Death, Gen, Infestation, One Shot, willing infection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalthusIndex/pseuds/MalthusIndex
Summary: A lone Tenno decides that he's better off as part of something greater.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	We Are Your Flesh

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little one-shot idea I had that I might expand on in the future. It's based on a vague concept I had ever since I played UFO: Aftermath wayyyy back in the day.

_Unburden yourself from this mortal coil, Mais. Join Us._

There it is. That voice again, burrowed into my head, worming its way through all the walls. I know it all too well – Lephantis, the beast that claims an entire derelict Orokin vessel as its own personal home. Every week, I am sent to kill it, and every week it returns. The dance of death that continues for month upon month, both of us knowing the outcome ahead of time.

Not anymore. I’m finally ready to lose.

Kill two chargers. Two more. Clear a path, get to that room as fast as possible. The longer I wait, the more I’ll get overwhelmed. Dying to Lephantis’ most basic infested spawn would be a humiliating way to leave this world, and it would deny me the chance to… wait, there’s more. Kill three more. It’s clear, go, go.

_We embrace you. Why do you defile us?_

It’s calling out to me. It always goes through the same list of taunts, knowing that this is just our routine. No matter what I do, the influence of the infested continues to spread – even if Lephantis dies, it makes no difference.

The door. There. I’m not that far away now, a few more bullet jumps and I should be right there. It’ll break through the floor, as always… unless…

_Why do you destroy us? We are your flesh._

“Yes. You are.”

A pause. It doesn’t know what to do. It expects conflict, as would I in this situation. But today is different.

_Why are you so still?_

I’ve stopped moving. I’m not here to fight, even though every instinct in my body screams at me to do so. This time, I’ll do the unthinkable, and accept.

“I am here, Lephantis. I am ready.”

Another pause. Then a thud, from the floor in the centre of the room. It’s preparing to burst out, as before, but it’s was hesitant.

_Why?_

I can’t think of an answer. I don’t know **why**. But what want right now was something I have wanted for a long time: a choice. I stay silent, spreading my Trinity’s arms and dropping the Baza that has killed so many of the beast’s smaller kin. Everything groans around me: no doubt the infestation itself moving to create room for the beast’s arrival.

There’s a loud crash as the room seems to shake, and there are its three heads, poking through the stained but still-ornate Orokin flooring. Staring at me, ready for combat.

“I’m not here to fight you.”

_That is a lie._

“No, it isn’t.” I hear the Runners and Chargers starting to pace around behind me, being tamed only by Lephantis’ influence. “If I wanted to fight you, I wouldn’t go through this whole charade before it. I can’t fool you.”

_Why are you here?_

The heads move independently, each one glancing between me and other spots in the room to check for some kind of trick. It doesn’t trust me, and I understand why.

“I’m here because I accept your offer.”

Another long, long pause. A Charger slowly trots over to me from somewhere behind me, ready to strike if I try anything. The beast is getting more careful.

_I offer you our embrace. Is that what you seek?_

“Yes, and no. I’m not here to satisfy some perverted urge or satiate my curiosity. I’m here to join you.”

I can feel my heart racing as more and more of the infested shells start to crowd around me, each one of their twisted bodies poised and ready to attack the moment I slip up and reveal my plan. The plan that I don’t have, because I don’t need one. Up close, I see the details that link them to their past selves: twisted bodies, broken spines, even intact heads that no longer serve their original purpose, relegated to other areas of the body entirely.

_We do not understand why._

“I don’t either. I’ve wanted to join you for a long time now, maybe… almost a year?”

_We cannot embrace your form._

Oh, yeah. The frame, I almost forgot. I quickly transfer myself out of Trinity, leaving her lifeless and hollow. Somebody else can claim her when they’re sent to fight this creature, because she can’t come with me. In this suit, I’m more vulnerable than ever, but that’s the intention.

“Here I am. Metaphorically naked.” I fold my arms, and the creatures around me flinch in surprise and fear. “I’m yours.”

From my communication systems, I hear Ordis’ voice frantically asking me what’s happening. He probably isn’t listening in, but there’s undoubtedly a way for him to see that I’m standing almost completely still in front of my enemy.

_Why are you doing this?_

“Lephantis, I want to become part of your… part of this. I’m lonely! I’m tired of life. I want to be… useful, and the best way to be useful right now is to join with the infestation.”

This would be my new home. The virus that spreads from planet to planet, consuming everything in its path. I would be a small part of that, but a part nonetheless. I could finally get some rest in the mass of flesh and disembodied thoughts that makes up the system-spanning Technocyte infestation.

_Very well._

One of the Chargers nudges me from behind, and I step forward, not wanting to spoil this chance. I was certain that it would be painful, even if I joined willingly, but it was a pain I was happy to endure. One of the beast’s three heads – the one made from a horribly mutated Corpus helmet, leant towards me and opened its maw, reeling back and spitting out a small, sticky ball of goo.

It latched onto my chest, and I felt the mild burning sensation start to spread through my body.

_You will be reborn. You will be one of us._

“I know. It’s what I want.”

The pain is getting harder to bear, but that’s how I know it’s working. Slowly, surely, I can seem my chest being overtaken by the Technocyte, my heart beating faster in my ears as the outside of my being is slowly overtaken.

_Let us in._

I want to yell as the sudden sing of fire that rushes through my limbs as the virus begins to take control of the interior parts of my body, slowly converting me into one of its own.

“I… am trying…”

My Void powers are running rampant, trying to make me preserve myself. It takes all my effort to stop them from firing off rapidly – I can’t ruin this for myself. This is what I **want**.

_You must try harder._

“It… wants me to live…”

_Then you have to die._

The pain gets worse. It feels like my flesh is boiling away and being replaced by new skin, skin that isn’t under my control. I alternate between freezing cold and boiling hot, my nerves no longer understanding what to feel. Each nerve begins to burst from the stress, adding a stabbing sensation of numbness in places where I once felt things.

 _This is the only way_.

I try to reply, but it just comes out as an anguished scream. Or it would, if I had a working throat anymore. My spine begins to shudder as the infestation starts to twist it into its own image, giving me a form more suited to its purposes. I am being broken into pieces, but still feel everything. I try to cry, but have no tear ducts left, only dark, boil-covered flesh.

Suddenly, the pain stops. I lie there, feeling nothing but… warmth. My body refuses to move. My muscles are no longer my own. All that is left is my mind and a handful of internal organs, which are also slowly becoming less and less responsive.

Lephantis rubs against my mind. I hear it speak to me. _This is your final moment, Mais. Be happy._

And I am happy.

For the last time in my life, I smile. _We are happy._

I feel myself start to drift away as my consciousness is claimed for the Technocyte. I can finally sleep. The darkness is setting in.

I exhale, and I never inhale ever again.


End file.
